Indoor smoking at commercial casinos faces potential legislative changes across multiple states in 2025, with growing momentum to eliminate smoking exemptions and protect casino workers from secondhand smoke exposure.

Currently, 15 states allow indoor casino smoking, but organizations like CEASE (Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects) and ANRF (American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation) are leading efforts to change this. CEASE has active chapters in New Jersey, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia.

Key states likely to consider smoking ban legislation in 2025:

• New Jersey
• Kansas
• Missouri

Health concerns driving the push for change:

• CDC confirms no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure
• Designated smoking areas and air filtration systems proven largely ineffective
• 19,000+ annual deaths from secondhand smoke exposure
• Casino workers identified as high-risk group by U.S. Surgeon General

Current smoking statistics:

• Less than 20% of adult population smokes
• Tobacco remains leading cause of preventable disease and death
• 500,000 annual deaths from cigarette smoking in U.S.

While the casino industry argues smoking bans hurt business and lead to job losses, research results vary depending on the study's source. However, smoking rates continue to decline nationwide, strengthening the case for smoke-free casino environments.

Pete Naccarelli, CEASE co-founder, emphasizes the human cost: "Casino workers have waited far too long to be afforded the same protections as other workers. We have countless colleagues who are now subjected to inhalers and oxygen tanks or have been diagnosed with cancer after working in smoke-filled casinos."

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